Archive for April 14, 2010

Goals: From July 2009

April 14, 2010 / Twix / No comments

I found a notebook that has the goals I wrote down in July 2009. I figured that it’s a good time now for me to re-examine myself and my goals, because things have gotten to be in a disarray again. Here’s the text from the journal. I’m writing corrections underneath it in a different color…

July 30, 2009

Writing down goals from a yellow legal pad.

  • Graduate by Spring 2011 with a BFA Visual Communication and a history minor.
    I’ll be graduating in Spring 2011 with a BA in Studio Art with a painting emphasis and an art history minor.
  • Save $10,000 toward the purchase of a home by 2014.
    Still working on getting my finances straight. I’ve run into a lot of unforeseen issues, and my school situation has attacked my work hours. =/ But this goal is pretty far off.
  • Have 3 children, adopt 2 children.
    Not happening right now. Married first in 2011. Thank god I realized that this goal is still ambiguous back then and didn’t put any nearby date on this.
  • Be 165 pounds by August 2010.
    193 right now! I was down to 190, might still be; I might have water weight right now.
  • Have Braces off by Sept. 2011.
    Not happening. Still have to get the braces on.
  • Bra strap length natural hair by August 2010.
    Self-relaxing with lye relaxer setback; will try aiming for this by August 2011?
It goes on to talk about this purity movement thing that I wanted to do with art, but that’s unimportant. I’ll write more. I have homework to do. I know I have another list of goals around here, and there were specific things that I was aiming for. I need to revise these soon, though; graduation is approaching and I want a good game plan.

Thumbprint Cookies

April 14, 2010 / Twix / No comments

Thumbprint cookies! There is an awesome bakery here, but in South Arlington, called “Paris Bakery”, that makes very awesome thumbprint style cookies. Even though they’re only fifty cent a piece (sixty cent a piece, if you get the double cookie with the filling), they’re pretty addictive, and a dozen of them equals six bucks! So I decided to learn how to make them on my own. I combined two recipes: a thumbprint cookie from allrecipes.com, and a chocolate frosting recipe from cooks.com. That said: here we go!


For the cookies:
1/4 c. butter, room temperature
1/2 c sugar
pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla
3 tbsp. milk
1/2 c cornstarch
1.25 c. all-purpose flour (my all-purpose flour has whole wheat flour in it, but it’s cool if yours doesn’t!)

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F; line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (I did this, but I think next time I’ll use foil, like I usually do. The wax paper that I do makes cookies stick to it…)
  2. Cream together butter, sugar, and salt. Beat in vanilla, milk, and cornstarch; stir in flour until combined.
  3. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in course sugar, if desired (I didn’t). Place on the baking sheet and make a shallow indentation with your thumb.
  4. Bake for 12-13 minutes, until just brown.
  5. Cool on wire rack.
Supposedly, this yields 2 dozen cookies. I’ve made the first dozen, but am allowing the dough to chill in our fridge until I’m ready to make the rest, lest they all get eaten right away. Now onto the frosting! I only used half the recipe for the chocolate frosting and, because our coffee maker is broken right now, I don’t have any available. I will be using it next time though!

For the Chocolate Frosting:
6 tbsp. cocoa
 6 tbsp. butter
 1 tsp. vanilla
 3 c. confectioners sugar
You want to just combine the ingredients for the frosting, but make sure to do it with a flat spoon or something, and start out pretty slow; the confectioner’s sugar will try to get everywhere otherwise, and the butter needs to combine with the dry ingredients very well in order to accomplish the frosting. That said, I think they turned out pretty great! I might add a bit more milk next time to the cookie recipe, as the dough was still a bit crumbly. These aren’t the exact texture as the cookies from the bakery, either, but I did enjoy them. I’ll probably start making them for friends and neighbors as gifts.
Also, I’m pretty sure that the supplies for two dozen of these darlings costs me wayyy less than the six they cost at the store. Still; I love Paris Bakery, and I’ll still shop there and support a nice local bakery.
 

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